The cloud of misfortune swoop upon the Kannagi residence
by Miyako Kurohime
Summary: Everything seems to be just as usual, when the new mission Kazuma got from Juugo turns out to be a little more difficult than the others. A few deaths have occurred and neither the cause of death nor the murderer are known. Will they be able to discover what happened? And when they do will they be able to get out alive?
1. Chapter 1

These scenes became quite usual at the Kannagi residence. Kannagi Juugo was ruining Yagami Kazuma's wish of having an uneventful life by paying him to investigate, to search or to protect his daughter Ayano. So the three of them were now sitting together: Ayano was sitting in silent anger, listening to her father while Kazuma, next to her seemed to ignore her presence.

"There was no sign of fighting or struggling at the victims, they don't seem to have any wounds and the idea of a heart attack was also excluded. So we have no idea who, how and why caused this. I'd like you to investigate Kazuma. Will you accept?"

"It will be expensive" he said and without a more detailed negotiation he accepted the request.

"I'd like you to be discreet and stay out of danger as much as you can." the head of the Kannagi family added.

Kazuma nodded slowly and he was about to leave when Ayano got up too.

"Are you going to investigate now?"

"Are you listening?" she asked irately seeing that she was being ignored.

"There is no need for you to know since you are not coming." he answered coldly.

"What!?" she said looking now at her father.

"Since you only want me to investigate and be discreet I don't think cooperation with Ayano is such a good idea. She is very noisy and I sincerely don't think she knows the definition of the word 'discreet'. Taking her with me would be probably the same as taking a baby. Therefore I'll go alone." he barely finished the sentence when a teacup flew in his direction. He avoided easily and the cup broke into pieces when hitting the wall.

"You are the most annoying person I have ever meet! How can you insult me like that!? If you think you can just do what you want here you're wrong! I'm coming too and you can't..."

"Ayano! Please! Behave yourself!" Juugo interrupted her. "I apologize for my daughter's behavior, Kazuma."

"It's fine. She's troublesome but I usually find it enjoyable." he said and left. Kannagi Juugo looked disappointed at Ayano and started to scold her for the way she acted.

These disputes between Ayano and Kazuma were also part of the daily routine. So when the other inhabitants of the house heard the yelling and the sound of something breaking they just continued doing whatever they were busy doing: reading, watching TV, doing chores or maybe simply enjoying a really beautiful day of spring with its enchanting sakura trees that started to bloom.

However , not caring it will disrupt the daily routine and disturb everyone's peaceful lives, something still unknown was threatening to turn this nice story into a tragedy.


	2. Chapter 2

The afternoon ended in an unpleasant way for Kannagi Ayano. Right after she got scolded by her father, the head of the Kannagi family, the pink haired girl went straight to her room.

She was lying in bed trying to calm herself down. She understood she might have acted rude and undisciplined and was sincerely sorry for disappointing her father, but chose not to be mad at herself for her behavior and blame Kazuma instead. Of course... Kazuma was the source to all her troubles. It was his fault she acted like that. He was arrogant and seemed to have a strange pleasure in teasing her all the time they were together.

"He thinks so highly of himself!" she said loudly throwing the pillow. "I can't believe I let myself be fouled by his looks and his f-flirt-..." her face turned red. She remembered how Kazuma was flirting with her. Her face turned even redder for she was embarrassed by the way she usually reacted when he did. With all her apparent hate and anger, when she felt him close to her, with his gentle touch, with his beautiful features she simply felt like she couldn't resist. But she just couldn't go with the flow, so, right before the desire to let him kiss her passionately would grow on her she would wake up and put distance between herself and Kazuma.

"But the next time will be different! From now on this..this unpleasant person will not be able to cloud my judgement anymore." she said happily and started laughing when someone entered the room.

"Sorry! You're door was ajar. But were you talking to yourself? Are feeling good?" a young blond boy asked with genuine concern.

"Yes, Ren. I'm fine. Really... No need to worry!" she said putting on a smile.

As the boy closed the door and left the room, he couldn't withhold laughing.

Alone in her room again, Ayano started thinking about the new mission. She wanted to go investigate as well. But that wasn't because she enjoyed spending her time investigating or fighting but she wished to show everyone she was not weak and didn't need Kazuma to always be there for her. She simply wanted to prove she was able to do things on her own and (of course) to be discreet. So, the only thing left to do was to pay Kirika Tachibana a visit.

_Meanwhile at the Tokyo MPD building_

Tokyo MPD has a special department in charge of investigating crimes related to jutsu. It is called the Special Investigation Unit. Right after Fuga Clan's rebellion, the department aimed to become the new partner of the Kannagi family, therefore filling the gap made by the betrayal. Kirika Tachibana who started working alongside the Kannagi family thanks to Kannagi Juugo's agreement was a detective working for this special unit. She was a beautiful, elegant woman. Right now she was in her office discussing with a young man. The person this beautiful blond lady was talking to was Yagami Kazuma. He came here to ask for details regarding the case.

"The results from the autopsy are here, Tachibana-san" a woman said interrupting the conversation.

"Thank you" she took the report and as she was reading she had a strange expression on her face.

"What's up? Something interesting?" Kazuma asked.

"No. Everything is just fine. That's what's weird."

Kazuma broke the strange silence that came right after that sentence.

"So, did you find some kind of connection between the victims?"

"The only thing that the victims share is the great amount of spiritual energy. The victims were important members from very respected families of jutsu users: The Fuan Family, the Yuuki Family and the Shinki Clan. I can't figure why, though. Just search for any unusual aura around and if you discover something don't do anything before you report it to me or to Kannagi Juugo. Be careful!"

"Then I'll see you later" he said while opening the window and left. It was one of his bad habits.

Ayano disliked Kirika Tachibana mostly because she hated to see the beautiful detective and Kazuma together for it triggered something in her heart that made her burn in jealousy. And what was worse was the fact that Kirika noticed that and kept teasing the heir of the Kannagi family everytime she got the chance. But now it was necessary to go talk to her. So she decided not to let her feelings interfere.

"Good afternoon!" she said politely as she entered Tachibana's office.

"Guess I became pretty popular recently, huh? One just left and I already have someone else in my office. So, what is that you want?"

"Well…I came here to ask about the new case."

"Kazuma just left. I told him all we know. You can go ask him."

"But I'd like to hear it from you. " she said angry because she wasn't able to find a better excuse.

A few minutes later as she was walking out of the building, Ayano's eyes were burning with anger. Of course the detective didn't tell her a thing and now there was no way she could prove her skills. So she spent the rest of the day angry and the inhabitants of the Kannagi house breathe a sigh of relief after the heir of the Kannagi family finally fell asleep. But as she was sleeping peacefully somewhere in the dark sides of the town something terrible was being prepared.


	3. Chapter 3

At any given time, one side of the Earth is bathed in light from the Sun and the other side is in the shadow caused by the Earth blocking the light of the Sun. This shadow is what we call the darkness of the night. The disappearance of sunlight has dramatic impacts on the behavior of almost every organism. In the night everything is released from the cage of shape and the burden of exposure. In the night when everyone believes to be alone and unperceived the mask worn in the daytime comes to nothing and one's true nature is revealed.

However, as artificial lighting has improved the nighttime activity has increased and became a significant part of the economy. At night the city blossoms into a profusion of giant neon lights and paper lanterns and some people go out in search of fun. The again, there are some places where the darkness of the night still reigns over. In one of these kind of places a group of strange people were holding a meeting.

"I'm tired of waiting. I'm getting hungry, sis." a girl with dark lank hair said. She was tall and slim, her eyes blue like the sea being her only beautiful feature. She was wearing a short tinsel dress and high heels. Her sister was patting her hair. They looked and were dressed the same way. No, there was a little difference. The second one seemed to be blind. They were both sitting on a trash can, near a black motorcycle.

The man standing next to them looked at her disdainfully when he heard her talking.

He was a big solid man; he had a dark face with stern features and a scar on his right eye. He was wearing a black trench coat. You could also notice the grip of a kantana.

The silence that came after the girl's complaint was broke by the sound of footsteps. A blond, young man with a mild expression on his face approached. He had half of his face burned, but you could still notice the features that once made him a very handsome man. He was walking holding his hands behind his back.

"Finally!" the impatient girl said cheering up. The blond man looked at her obviously displeased with the girl's attitude.

"I have heard about your victims. How can you act so thoughtlessly? You must have something in that little head of yours, right? So how can you not think about the consequences? " he asked coldly.

"I am very sorry. It won't happen again." she answered humbly.

"Of course it won't." the man said. In the blink of eye he was next to her. He had a knife in his hand. Before the girl would be able to react he stabbed her in the arm, deep. In the next second he was back in his initial place enjoying the girl's scream of pain. The other man stood there as if nothing had happened watching twin holding her sister in her arms.

Unfortunately a poor man witnessed the scene and now he had to be eliminated.

"I got it." the wounded woman said. She ran to the scared man and started holding him tightly. The man was trying to free himself. The young lady closed her lips to his and started kissing him. In a few moments the man was lying down.

"Great! Another dead person! " the blond man said.

"It was necessary." the one in trench coat talked for the first time. "The same goes for the other one." he took out his gun and shot.

"So you noticed a me." he said easily deflecting the bullets. The eavesdropper turned out to be a Fujutsushi. He didn't have time to counter. The opponent took out his katana. He was clearly aiming for a close combat. But the wind blade forced him to keep distance. Now the wind user was able to act on the offensive. It didn't last long, tough. The blond man was approaching rapidly aiming for his back. He surrounded himself by a wind shield. The man with the scar on his eye didn't seem to care. He still tried to cut the Fujutsushi. But what the latter didn't see coming was the fact that as the katana came into contact with the wind, the shield faded away. Before he would be able to react he managed to stab him in the abdomen. He twisted the katana and then pull it out. The wounded man fell on the ground.

"Great! Like it wasn't enough already." the blue eyed man said looking admonishing at the young girl.

...

Wind arts are most effective in investigation. The wind users have the ability to hide their presence and are very good at detecting other magic users. That's how Yagami Kazuma managed to find the four strange individuals that gathered that night in a place they had considered safe. He hadn't planed to attack them, mostly because he hadn't known their abilities. He hadn't expected to be detected as well. But things don't always go as planned. He had been engaged in a fight and, unfortunately, he lost. When the katana was pulled out of him he instinctively put his hand on the wound. When he looked at it he saw it covered in blood. He fell on the ground. He felt dizzy, but it was weird: there was no pain. But his throat seemed to tighten making it impossible to let out any noise. A dull throbbing began at the wound location. It started to grow in intensity until the pain began to overtake his senses. He started to panic. He wasn't able to notice anything around him. He didn't know whether the four persons were still there. He heard no sound. He tried to look around him hoping to find help. But everything was hazy. Everything surrounding him blended together forming a dark mass. The pain became almost unbearable. Nothing else mattered. It was like the only thing existent was the pain. Just him and the agonizing pain sitting there in a puddle of blood, hoping to lose consciousness.

...

Yes, night unravels the truth no matter how ugly and terrifying it may be. Still, we might want to put away the fear of it, for even in the terrors of the night there is the beauty of the stars, the graceful face of the moon and the poetic mood one cannot cease to notice when refusing to let the fear lay hold on oneself.

The darker the night, the brighter the stars.


End file.
